Vacation-home demand was expected to remain sluggish, as the broader housing market was marred by elevated mortgage rates and weaker transaction activity.
However, according to new Redfin data, there’s an unexpected shift in one corner of the housing market, breaking a trend that has held up since the pandemic boom
Though at first it looks like the beginnings of a recovery, the underlying data paints a more complicated story. The change comes from one of the market’s weakest starting points and is spearheaded by a remarkably narrow group of buyers. Rather than indicating whether housing affordability has improved, the shift reveals where purchasing power is returning first and which Americans remain shut out.
What the vacation-home rebound really says about housing Redfin found that demand for vacation homes jumped in 2025 for the first time since the pandemic boom, as second-home mortgages grew more quickly than loans for primary residences. More Economy: Naturally, stronger vacation-home demand indicates improving consumer confidence, with households usually making such decisions when they’re feeling much more secure about their income, wealth, and the economy. However, if we dig into the numbers, that rebound could be much smaller than the headline numbers suggest.